The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for printing image information on printing paper by electrophotography and binding the printed paper into books.
Conventional printing and binding apparatuses are categorized into a type comprising a rotary press for printing and binding books and another type for printing and binding books by electrophotography. In particular, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 61-25889 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 61-112694 have disclosed an apparatus of the aforesaid type for binding books from printing paper sheets in such a way that printing paper sheets are sequentially printed as it is or by spreading the book by the electrophotography and the recorded paper sheets are stapled and bound up. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 58-18293 has disclosed technology for making a plurality of business form booklets by printing a continuous business form in accordance with output information from a computer in such a way that the contents of pages of two or more booklets are printed in the widthwise direction of the continuous business form, and the widthwise directional side of the booklet is bound by a bookbinding apparatus such as a stitcher and the two or more booklets are made by cutting performed in a direction perpendicular to the side of the bound booklet. Although the time taken to complete the printing process can be shortened by employing the electrophotography, a problem arises that it takes an excessively long time to bind the books if a large number of books must be bound.